Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #1

---

Zitat

---

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—

Gibson guitar company, which has been a staple brand among various musical instruments since 1902, is facing bankruptcy.

According to the Nashville Post, Gibson’s chief financial officer, Bill Lawrence, left after six months on the job and just as $375 million in senior secured notes mature and $145 million in bank loans become due, if they aren’t refinanced by July

The departure of Lawrence was seen as a bad sign for a company trying to re-organize.

The company, which generates $1 billion a year in revenues, recently moved out of its Nashville warehouse, where it had operated since the mid 1980s.

The company owner since then, Henry Juskiewicz, is trying to re-order the company according to the Post but is facing a battle with creditors over bad business decisions. The company recently sold Baldwin piano, and is hoping to see a boost in cash from the various electronics companies it had purchased the last several years.

---

http://www.ajc.com/news/national/gibson-...LEv1rP92RvZFrM/

---

How sad

I guess Obama's EIA is pleased.


Why Gibson Guitar Was Raided By The Justice Department
August 31, 2011
Craig Havighurst

................................................................

"We had a raid," he said, "with federal marshals that were armed, that came in, evacuated our factory, shut down production, sent our employees home and confiscated wood."

The raids at two Nashville facilities and one in Memphis recalled a similar raid in Nashville in November 2009, when agents seized a shipment of ebony from Madagascar. They were enforcing the Lacey Act, a century-old endangered species law that was amended in 2008 to include plants as well as animals. But Juszkiewicz says the government won't tell him exactly how — or if — his company has violated that law.

"We're in this really incredible situation. We have been implicated in wrongdoing and we haven't been charged with anything," he says. "Our business has been injured to millions of dollars. And we don't even have a court we can go to and say, 'Look, here's our position.'"

The U.S. Justice Department won't comment about the case it's preparing, but a court motion filed in June asserts Gibson's Madagascar ebony was contraband. It quotes emails that seem to show Gibson taking steps to maintain a supply chain that's been connected to illegal timber harvests.

..........................................................

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2...tice-department

Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #3

---

When Gibson bought Baldwin piano they began bullying the dealers into carrying more Baldwin inventory.

It was a short-sighted initiative as forcing dealers to do something that was not in their best interest only created animosity and dealers quickly dropped the Baldwin line instead of complying with these top-down mandates.

Gibson lost lots of money with the Baldwin venture and ended up selling the name [and most likely the equipment] to a Chinese manufacturer.

An American company was lost in the process.

I'm sad that Gibson's management wanted to create a business empire instead of enjoying their success as a guitar maker. It'd be nice if Gibson was able to reorganize with new management as a guitar maker once again

---